UFC champ Jon Jones no longer interested in heavyweight

UFC champ Jon Jones no longer interested in heavyweight

Not too long ago, Jon Jones said he would be fighting at heavyweight by 2014 – but the UFC light heavyweight champ said that’s no longer the case.

One month after he mused about a super fight with Cain Velasquez, Jones (19-1 MMA, 13-1 UFC) today said he had no desire to fight in the big-man division, citing plenty of challenges at 205 pounds.

That’s good news to a growing list of viable contenders to Jones’ belt. On Saturday, he attempts his seventh title defense against Glover Teixeira (22-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at UFC 172, but his next opponent already is lined up if he’s successful – a rematch with Alexander Gustafsson, who took him to the limit this past fall at UFC 165.

Jones, who now is 26 but has said he’ll retire at age 30, spoke about Velasquez while talking about potential superfights during an AXS TV interview. He said middleweight champ Chris Weidman lacked the name to promote a cross-division fight, but a matchup with the heavyweight champ would draw interest.

Jones’ comment gained the endorsement of UFC President Dana White.

“If he gets to the point in his career when he wants to move up to heavyweight, I mean, what he accomplished in the first year and a half as a light heavyweight was incredibly impressive,” White said. “The fact that he can move up – I’ve been waiting for Anderson Silva to move up to 205, but he never wanted to do it. I’d like to see it.”

Matt Brown performed an honest career calculation that led him to his decision to retire after his next fight. His opponent, Diego Sanchez, seems to have chosen the opposite path. For many aging fighters, these are the two choices, and neither is an easy one to make.